Harlon
Harlon is a Sworn Sword of House Greyjoy, and a sword of Andrik Greyjoy Biography The babe that would become Harlon was born to a farming family on the banks of the Mander, in 273. He was the last child out of five. While he was born quite normally, as the boy grew it became apparent that he did not meld with his siblings. With a shock of blonde hair and an unnatural height, he would quickly catch someone’s attention before any of his siblings. His father, being a man of the plow, put Harlon to work in the fields as quickly as possible. In lieu of an auroch or some other costly beast of burden, he simply used his children. While the others did well enough, his father quickly realized that Harlon was the most efficient of them all. The boy tilled fields and pulled plows by hand. The work was brutal, and without reward. It made the boy strong and near tireless. His life was simple for much of it’s early years. Brutal work, followed by beratement from his father and siblings. His mother had passed when he was only 6 years old, the singular light in his life gone. However, in 285 AA, the Ironborn came. Many suffered during Cotter’s War. Villages plundered, families destroyed, loot taken. Harlon was no exception. It was a rainy night when the Ironborn came screaming into his village, axes sharp and teeth bared. His father hid, like a coward. Ironborn are persistent, however, and without much delay his father’s head hung from the belt of the reaving Lord. His siblings fled, and their fate beyond that is a mystery. Some died, more than likely. Others might have made it to safety. But Harlon would not flee, and would not hide. As Ironborn came upon his family farm, Harlon greeted them with a broken haft, and sprang upon them like a crazed animal. The boy was quickly dispatched, but one of the Ironborn stayed his execution. Lord Andrik Greyjoy looked the boy in the eye and offered him a choice. “Do you want to live, boy, or die like the rest of them?” The farm was in ruins and his family was gone. Harlon was carried back to Andrik’s ship, and put into the Greyjoy’s service as a thrall. He was put to work in the mines on Pyke, his physique making him ideal for the work. However, Andrik saw a better purpose for the boy. In 292, as he went to the West to reave, he brought the boy along. The lad was already as of larger build than Andrik, and could serve well to terrify the Westermen. Harlon proved himself a capable warrior in the West, fighting the Greenlanders with every ounce of his freakish strength. Andrik rewarded the young Harlon, making him one of the Lord’s personal swords, a station which the big brute seems to have been destined for. He is near perpetually by the Greyjoy lord, or accompanying one of Andrik’s many siblings Category:Commoner Category:House Greyjoy